His Name Was Jason Review

Written by: Goon

I am a sucker for horror documentaries. So when I heard they were making one about Jason and the Friday the 13th franchise I couldn't wait to check it out. Jason is a horror icon and I believe they will continue making these movies for as long as they can. So with the remake getting ready to hit theaters in couple days this is the perfect time to look back at the original films that helped create Jason into the legendary horror icon that we all know and love today.

His Name Was Jason is hosted by Tom Savini at the Universal Halloween Horror Nights Friday the 13th: Camp Blood attraction. It serves as a great backdrop for the entire documentary. They managed to get almost everyone that was involved in the franchises long run. The only person that I really wanted to see who was nowhere to be seen was Corey Feldman. I would have loved to have seen him actually talk about his experience on the film because I have never seen him do so. On the other side of the token I was actually shaking my head at the inclusion of James Roday... Who is James Roday? He is the guy from USA's Psych. Yea that guy. Why the hell is he even in this documentary? He has no ties to the film and is not even a well known guy. Like the inclusion of Adam Green and Joe Lynch is justified because they were both influenced by the films to direct other horror films. Roday? Not so much.

Aside from that I actually was not that impressed with the actual documentary. They don't really say anything that a fan of the series already wouldn't know. This is something that people who are not that knowledgeable of the franchise might enjoy. I think it is probably something that might possibly be better marketed toward those people with the remake approaching. The doc really felt like one of those kind of corny documentaries that you catch on TV during Halloween.

Despite the fact that I didn't appreciate the actual documentary their is a whole other disc full of goodies. This is where all the really good stuff can be found. They take all the stories from the people that were not used during the elementary documentary and put them in their entirety on the second disc. The best of which is a very cool idea from the guys behind Jason Goes to Hell for Freddy vs Jason. If only they would have spoke with the man who set up the meeting between the two.

Also included on the extra features are a couple of very funny bonus films from fans. Including Freddy vs Jason in 30 seconds by bunnies and probably best of all The Angry Video Game Nerd episode in which he plays the classic Friday the 13th Nintendo game. Also included are a couple trips back to the original shooting locations with people involved with that particular film on hand to comment. Basically the bonus features on this disc make this worth buying and not the actual documentary.

The Friday the 13th remake is also included in all of this with interviews from the stars, producers, writers and director. Also included is a ticket for $5 off your ticket to see the film. So all in all this is something worth picking up for fans of the franchise.